Flange-lubricator for railroad-cars.



I.,KINGAID,: M. A. FUOTE & W. H. NEUREITHER.

PLANGE LUBRIGATOR FOB. RAILROAD CARS.

APPLICATIONIILBD JAN. 2s, 1912.

' 1,1 1 1,308. Patented Sept. 2.2,y 1914.`

.4 I GHozucqS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

12R-A KINCAID, MARK A. FOOTE, AND WARREN AH. NUREITHER, QFVCHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FLANGE-L'UBRICATOR FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

Application filed January 23, 121,2. Serial 110.672,880.

- To. all whom 'it may concern Be it known that we, IRA4 KINCAID, A. FooTE, and WARREN H. NEUREITHER, citi-A zensof the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented cer-tain new and useful Improvements in Flange-Lubricators for Railroad-Cars, of which the following is `a specification.

O ur invention relates to brake shoes for railroad cars and locomotives, land the main' object of the invention is to provide means whereby the anges of locomotive and car wheels may be kept lubricated,:thus 'prevent-1 ing the rrapid wearlngaway and sharpening of the flanges, particularly when running onv curves, andthe wearing away of the rail,

-thus very vmuch reducing the danger of de- 1railment. It is .the worn fianges I'of the loco.

motive and car wheels and the worn-rails that are often the cause ofderallment, particularly at switches.

A further object of the invention is to improve upon the like construction described in the application of Ira Kincaid for brake shoe, filed August 19, 1910, Serial No.

A further object of the inventlon is to s o form a flange lubricating brake shoe that 1t may be reversed in position and used either end up. y

2A still further object is to so arrange the charging duct leading to the lubricant reservoircontained within the brake shoe that the charging duct will not become choked with dust, dirt or the scrapings from the car wheel.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our. invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevatlon of a portion of a railwayl car wheel, a brake head and our improved flange lubricating brake shoe. applied4 thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line. 2 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line Bm?) of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transv/erse section on line 4--1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the brake shoe removed from the brake head.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring to the drawings, 2 des1gnates a wheel of any suitable character shown as the wheel ofa lOomotive, and formed with the usual iiange 3'. The brake head 4 is of any ordinary or usual construction and is shown as being formed with a socket or niortise 5at its middle for the reception of a tenen lTon the brake shoe proper, `The interior face of the head 4 is concaved andA middle` with a tenon 7-adapted to be re-v ceived in the mortise 5 and held to the brake head by meansof a cotter pin 15.

The inner face of the brake'shoe 6 is longitudinally concaved to fit the circumference of the wheel 2, and the front braking-face' of the shoev `is provided with a Vertical groove 8 near one-side (called the flange groove), inwhich the iange of the wheel extends; and the surface 9 between the said flange-groove and the side of the brake-shoe most distant therefrom constitutes the -curved surface for producing the braking action upon the tread of the wheel.

`Formed in thebrake shoe immediately b ehindthe groovefi 'are a plurality of pockets 10 shown as two in numberv and` extending longitudinally of the brake shoe. These pockets are nseparated from each other by an intermediate web 11, the pockets 10 eX- tending behind the web as at-12.' Th`e pockets lare connected by means of a duct 13 located adjacent to the rear walls of the pockets. The reasonfor making the pockets undercut as at 12 is to increase the width of the web 11 yand thus increase the bearing which'the shoe has upon the wheel without decreasing the size of the pockets, and to afford space for-.a largerlubricant pocket and to form a funnel to facilitate the flow of lubricant from the upper pocket into the duct 13.

VFlach of the pockets has leading from it at its Outer end a duct 14 which leads to the outside face of the brake shoe behind the tread portion 9 of the brake shoe, these ducts being located as deep as possible so as not to be near the face of the brake shoe and therefore to permit the brake shoe to be worn down without the face intersecting the duct.

is located as deeply as possible, thatis, as

. near as possible to the rear faces of the pockets 10. Each of the ducts 14 opens upon the outside face of the brake shoe, this being a. position in which the ducts will not become plugged upby dirt gathered by the brake shoe from the wheel. e d

In the form of lubricating brake shoe shown in the patent before referred to, the filling or charging duct for the lubricant containing chamber or pocket extended upward to the upper face of the brake shoe. The brake shoe scraped the dirt and other foreign matter off the face of the wheel, and this foreign matter gathered uponv the top of the brake shoe, completely plugging up and closing the filling duct, necessitating the use of a plug. This plug 'could be easilv removed when the filling duct was 4not choked up, but it was liable to become stuck in place and has been found in practice to be inconvenient. The lscrapings from the wheel often conceal even theplug so as to make it difficult to remove. Also in many cases the brake shoe sets snugly up against the framework ofthe car, which prevents oiling through a duct opening at the top of the brake shoe, or if it does not absolutely prevent oiling does at least prevent the admission of anoil can. With the feed duct .opening upon the side face of the shoe, however, it is seldom or never obstructed.

The object in having two oil lubricant pockets 10, each provided witha filling duct l14E and connected to each other by means of the duct 13, is to permit the brake shoe t0 f be reversed end` for end so that the brake shoe may be used either for the right or left wheel'of a locomotive or car. `When lubricant is supplied to the upper pocket, it percolates down through the intermediate duct 13 and into the lower pocket; duct 14 is of course always the uppermost duct.- It will of course be evident that where liquid and freely running lubricant is used is not liable to become clogged with dirt,

dust or oil. s

` Each of the pockets 10 preferably hasparallel side walls extending practically to the back plate, that is, to the full depth of the shoe, leavingthe back plate or a sufiicient web at the back of the shoe to constitute the back wall of each pocket. Each pocket as shown in Fig. 3 is'so located in the brake shoe that when filled with lubricant the face of the flange of the moving wheel from its periphery to its vintersectiony with the tread of the Wheel will engage or rub aga-inst the lubricant and thus be lubricated. It this inside face of the flange 3 which rubs against the rail, particularly when the locomotive or car is running upon a curve, and it is this The filling' insidelface of the flange (especially in the angle formed by the intersection with the tread of the wheel) which mustv be lubricated in order to avoid the wear and tear mentioned in the first part of this 'specification. y

The same lubricating operation is carried on continuously in the fiange groove because as thevsurface of the flange groove wears inward, new surfaces of the lubricant in the pockets 10 will present themselves, as will be evident by reference to Fig. 3,

The filling for use in the pockets may be of any suitable lubricating material, such as grease,` graphite, oily waste, oil, water, or any combination of ingredients capable of retaining itself within the pockets. Furthermore, the specific shape of the pockets 10 may be varied as desired asf it is not essential that they'be of the detail shape shown, though this shape is preferable. It is valso evident that there may be more or less yof these pockets 10 as 'may be found ldesirable for shoes of various sizes.

The brake shoe constructed as before described has been found by us to be particularly effective in actual practice. It is capable of holding lubricant of any kind and may be used either with graphite, grease, ,0r the pockets may be packed with cotton lwaste soaked with oil. By reason of the lfact that the lling ducts extend to the outside face of the brake shoe, lubricant may -be easily filled into the pockets and whatever lubricant is supplied to the uppermost duct will pass down throughv the uppermost pocket and-duct 13 into the lower pocket. -The filling ducts opening upon the side face of the brake shoe do not become plugged up each with a duct extending laterally and' toward the end of the brake shoe, the brake shoe maybe reversed end for end and thus the same shoe is adapted to be used upon either side of the track. Where graphite or other hard lubricant 'is used, the lubricant will last for a very long period of time without the necessit ofthe pockets in the brake shoe being re lled. Where, however, oil and cotton waste are used, it will be obvious 'that the pockets may be easily refilled from the ordinary oil can. y

The flange wears its own flange-groove into the shoe, of course, as the shoe wears away, the new shoe having a ange-groove no deeper than required to accommodate the flange. 'The ange-groove, engaging the flange, as it does, serves to keep the shoe in be plainly seen in the face of the flange,

many to the square inch. Wvhere our brake shoe lubricator is used, no such little gouges are visible and the face of the flange is smooth and glassy, even when, perhaps, no lubricant is visible, and When there is so little lubricant that hardly a visible or tangible amount can be gathered by rubbing a finger upon the face of the shiny flange. Attention is also called to the fact that the moving flange, rubbing against the lubricant with our brake shoe, distributes the lubricant, in almost indistinguishable quantity but suiiiciently the Whole length of the flange-groove to make' the liange-groove, itself, for its Whole length, a flange lubricator, thuskeeping the flanges lubricated, smooth, and the safe shape thereof much more durable.

`What We claim is:

l. A brake shoe for locomotive and car wheels having a flange groove extendingl longitudinally thereof, and a Wheel treadi engaging face, said shoe being formed With a plurality of pockets disposed immediately behind the flange groove and opening therem gli into, said pockets being as wide as the width of the fiange groove and extending into the shoe to the back Wall thereof, said pockets being disposed in superposed spaced relation to each other and separated by an integral web, said pockets extending behind the web at the face of the shoe and being connected by a duct extending through the web, the opposite ends of the shoe being formed with filling ducts disposed at the rear end of the shoe immediately in front of the back thereof, said ducts each extending at an inclination from the adjacent end of the shoe toward the middle of the slice and into the outer rear corners of the respective pockets.

2. A. brake shoe for locomotive car Wheels having a flange groove and communicant lubricant containing chambers opening upon the face of the groove, said shoe having oppositely disposed filling ducts extending from the outer side face of the shoe into the adjacent chamber and located one at each end of the shoe, whereby the shoe may be inverted for application to either left or right side Wheels Without effecting a change in the relationv of the ducts to the lubricant chambers.

In testimony whereof We aiix our signatures in presence of two Witnesses.

IRA KINCAID. MARK A. FOOTE. WARREN ll. NEUREITHER.

Witnesses:

MARK P. Garni-1R, VILLIAM C. LAUMENBERG. 

